


Onwards, Upwards

by elfin



Category: Shetland (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-26
Updated: 2019-03-26
Packaged: 2019-12-18 07:37:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18245336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elfin/pseuds/elfin
Summary: Life goes on....





	Onwards, Upwards

**Author's Note:**

> SPOILERS for Shetland Season 5, Final episode

Cassie calls from the airport: ‘Surprise!’ 

It really is. They haven’t been expecting her back until Christmas. The house isn’t… prepared and Jimmy’s at work when he gets the call. 

~

He lets them in and watches her take her bag through into her room. She’s got her mother’s looks and brains; it’s barely a second before she shouts from her bedroom, ‘Dad, where’s Duncan?’

He leans on the counter, trying for nonchalance but almost certain he’s missing it by a mile. He can’t keep the smile from his face, that’s the problem, as she comes back into the kitchen, ready for a fight.

‘Something’s… happened,’ he tells her. ‘With Duncan.’

‘What?’ Her eyes and voice are steely. 

‘The day after you went back to Glasgow…. He was going to sell up and leave. I came home and he was sitting over there, bags packed, waiting for his taxi.’ He’s surprised she still looks angry. He’s completely certain the expression on his face has to be bordering on happy at the very least. 

‘So? What happened?’

‘I told him… I didn’t want him to go. Said I’d give him the cash for the bistro. An investment.’ The hard look in her eyes starts to melt. ‘I ordered pizza.’ Like that detail was important in any way. ‘And then I…’ He falters.

The metal returns to her gaze. ‘You what? What did you do, Dad?’ She’s always thought the worst of them together, that they’d fight even as the world ended. So did he, once, to be fair. ‘Did you hit him?’

He’s a bit surprised at that though. ‘No! Quite the opposite, actually.’

‘The opposite?’ And maybe that’s when she really sees him, possibly for the first time since stepping out of Arrivals. He’s so familiar to her, it’s a compliment that she can take him for granted sometimes. He watches, and spots the moment it dawns. ‘Oh. My. God. You…’ She can’t say it but he can see the word playing on her lips. 

‘I kissed him. Spur of the moment. Too much emotion in a short space of time, too much stress, too much death and pain. In that moment I wanted something joyous.’ It’s nothing but the truth. 

She glances back, towards her room. ‘So…. where is he?’

‘At the bistro. The kitchen’s being installed.’

‘No. I mean, where’s his stuff. My room’s empty.’

‘Oh. It’s… upstairs.’

She looks confused, like the idea can’t even register on a subconscious level. He doesn’t blame her. ‘But there’s no spare bedroom ups-‘ And there it is. 

‘His stuff’s in my room.’ The expression on her face makes him grin. He thinks he probably looks a little unhinged. ‘It… did’nae stop at the kiss.’

~

‘Hi, Honey, I’m home.’ Duncan’s sing-song voice rings in from the hall. 

Jimmy leans over the counter and murmurs to Cassie, ‘That afternoon, he called me ‘baby’ by accident.’ Later, Duncan will deny that, the same way he has for weeks now, claiming he said ‘Mary’ which quite frankly isn’t any better. Out loud, he calls back, ‘That’s great, Sweetheart. So is your daughter.’

They both catch the panic on Duncan’s face as he steps into the room and it’s comical. 

‘Cassie…. Hey, Love. Were we… I mean, was Jimmy expecting you?’

She comes around the counter to hug him, a little tighter than usual maybe. ‘No. It’s a surprise visit. And everything’s absolutely fine, before you ask.’

‘Like Alex does’nae know you’re here.’ Jimmy teases. She lets go of Duncan, steps back with the grace to look a little sheepish at least. 

‘Maybe I called him.’ Sheepish quickly turns to defiant. ‘Don’t you dare take the moral high ground! You two could have told me!’

‘Told you what?’ 

Jimmy steps up, puts his chin on Duncan’s shoulder - feels him tense up than relax minutely. ‘She saw your things weren’t in her room. Thought I’d kicked you out. Or maybe buried your body on the beach.’

‘That would have been a more plausible explanation.’ The nervousness is clear in his voice, his attempt at humour. To Cassie, he says, ‘I’m sorry, Love. We should have… Jimmy should have….’

She’s smiling. ‘It’s fine. Honestly. I haven’t seen him so happy since Mum. And you look a million times better than you did the last time I saw you.’ She waits a moment, then tries to hug them both at once.

~

Jimmy makes coffee. They have a couple of hours before Cassie’s date with Alex and she wants to know what happened, what changed. She wants to know everything. 

‘I realised something,’ Jimmy says honestly, ‘I accused Alice, just once, just for a moment, of setting me up to protect Chris. And she ended our affair before it happened. It made me think. In the last year, I’ve accused Duncan first of murder, then of people trafficking. And he hadnae left, hadnae walked away from me.’ He nudges Duncan’s shoulder gently. ‘If that’s not love, I don’t know what is.’

Duncan rests his head against Jimmy’s, and Cassie groans. ‘Oh God. I’d never have thought the two of you could be so soppy.’

‘It’s not all fair weather sailing,’ Jimmy points out. ‘He has no sense of interior decorating. You should see the paint he’s chosen for the bistro; hospital green.’

Duncan lifts his head. ’It’s called Spring Blossom.’

‘Bollocks, is it.’

‘Anyway. You snore like a freight train.’

‘And you wear the same pair of socks for a week.’

Cassie throws up her hands. ’Stop! I need to get changed.’ She finishes her coffee and leaves the mug for Jimmy to wash. Just before she reaches the doorway, she throws back, ‘If I go out looking like this, I’ll never know how often Alex changes his socks.’

Jimmy can’t see it, but he knows how smug her smile is.


End file.
